Favorite Fish?

Friends commonly ask me about my favorite kind of fish, but so far I've not been able to answer that one. I enjoy different things about many different kinds of fish. Probably, the best I can do is to pick some of my favorite kinds of fish.

Brown trout rank mighty high on my list because of their wariness, their capacity to grow large in Southern Appalachian streams, their fondness for big bites and therefore big baits, and their generally cool appearance. And then there are smallmouths, which hit, run, jump and play like few other kinds of fish and favor the same clear, rocky places that I tend to like. Looking at cats, I'm partial to flatheads. They defy catfish stereotypes, being major predators not scavengers, and they lurk in the toughest timber tangles imaginable, coming out only when they want to. In the brine, I like redfish because they commonly cruese shallow flats, hunting as they go, and that creates some very cool fishing situations - and because they are beautiful and tremendously strong.

Of course, two of most fun kinds of fish I've even encountered are peacock bass and dolly varden, but I'm not sure I can even count those because I caught both on exotic adventures to faraway places that I'll probably never travel to again.

And then I think about the spectacular-colored native speckles that still inhabit the tiny high-country branches of the mountains near home, about big bluegills, crickets and corks... OK, I really don't know my favorite fish, which is pretty much what I always end up telling people.

I like fish, and I like fishing.